“Father, I know what to do!”

Zhou Wengang initially had the same thought.

Old Master Zhou nodded: “Tell Zhou Yi, since she insists on choosing this man, her grandmother and I cannot accept it. Her marriage is her freedom, but she cannot force us to bless it. She cannot come to where we live anymore. If she appears in this area again, the guards will drive her away.”

Better not to see than to be upset – seeing her would only bring heartache.

Zhou Wengang turned and left with gritted teeth.

Zhou Yi and Yuan Han had already been put in the car by his men.

“Sister-in-law, Xiaolan, tomorrow evening I’m inviting the Yuan family to meet at the Beijing Hotel. You must come too – you have to honor us at this wedding banquet!”

Was this the tone for a celebration?

It sounded more like arranging a funeral.

“I heard Aunt is ill too. Is it serious?”

Zhou Wengang’s thoughts were similar to the old master’s.

The daughter he raised for over twenty years wasn’t as good as Xia Xiaolan, a niece-in-law who hadn’t even officially joined the family. Who could Zhou Wengang complain to?

Jiang Hong was hospitalized, yet Zhou Yi only thought about marrying Yuan Han. Instead of staying with her sick mother at the hospital, she came to kneel at her grandparents’ door – putting on a show for all of Beijing to see, making the Zhou family a laughingstock!

Zhou Wengang was utterly disappointed, “It’s her old illness. Thank you for your concern about your aunt.”

After Zhou Wengang left, Guan Hue’e spoke up, “Father, from Brother’s meaning, is he going to let Zhou Yi marry?”

“You can’t hold back a grown daughter, and trying has only created resentment. If she wants to marry, don’t stop her. Let her compare for herself in a couple of years whether her life is good or not.”

Old Master Zhou had lost interest in talking.

Compare with whom?

Naturally with the children who grew up together in the compound.

If the Zhou family didn’t help Yuan Han up, how could Zhou Yi have a good life?

Xia Xiaolan didn’t believe it.

“Grandfather Zhou, I’ll come to see Grandmother Zhou again tomorrow at noon. I brought some seafood from Pengcheng for you and Grandmother – it’s very nourishing when cooked in porridge.”

Old Master Zhou nodded, “If it doesn’t interfere with your classes, come by more often to keep her company during this time.”

Xia Xiaolan left with Guan Hue’e. Zhou Wengang’s car was gone, and Zhou Yi and Yuan Han had disappeared.

As they walked, Guan Hue’e asked if Ji Ya had been causing trouble lately, since her brand store opened yesterday:

“I heard from your Aunt Zhan that they invited Wang Mingming to sing at the opening. It was quite lively.”

Xia Xiaolan didn’t know about Ji Ya’s situation.

But there was nothing unusual from Blue Phoenix and Luna, or someone would have reported it.

“Building a good brand isn’t something you can accomplish by last-minute efforts. Ms. Ji Ya was a fashion designer abroad for many years, so she should have plenty of experience… We each mind our own business. If she doesn’t provoke me, I won’t bother her.”

But if she did provoke, there would be fierce retaliation!

Everyone should avoid playing dirty.

If Ji Ya hadn’t tried to poach Wang Mingming at the last minute, Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t have been so angry as to let Zhang Xiao steal the fashion show’s spotlight!

“She probably doesn’t dare provoke you lately.”

To do business, you need to be fully committed.

When fully committed, who has time to scheme against others?

Without full commitment, Ji Ya had already lost half the battle. Even with complete dedication, business success wasn’t guaranteed – how fast could one develop while constantly plotting?

Ji Ya must know about Golden Sand Pool’s great sales – she was probably suffering now.

Well, Xia Xiaolan hoped she would suffer a while longer.

Seeing Xia Xiaolan’s confidence, Guan Hue’e didn’t say much more:

“Uncle said to have you meet the Yuan family tomorrow too. Are you busy at school? If you’re busy, you don’t need to go.”

Xia Xiaolan shook her head, “I want to go. Since Zhou Yi is marrying Yuan Han, we’ll have to deal with the Yuan family more or less in the future. Meeting them will help me mentally prepare.”

Zhou Cheng had gone to Pengcheng to help her deal with Ke Yixiong.

Couldn’t she spare some time for Zhou Cheng’s family matters?

Guan Hue’e didn’t want to deal with Zhou Yi’s mess either, but she had no choice, and she felt sorry for her sister-in-law Jiang Hong.

Jiang Hong was such a proud person, yet because of Zhou Yi’s matters, she had been hospitalized twice.

At tomorrow night’s meeting at the Beijing Hotel, Jiang Hong definitely won’t be able to eat.

After being sisters-in-law for so many years, though Jiang Hong was somewhat petty, she wasn’t truly a bad person.

Guan Hue’e pitied Jiang Hong – how heartbreaking for a mother to face such a situation:

“Zhou Yi’s mother has aged quickly lately, you’ll see tomorrow. Look how late it is now, I’ll have the driver take you back to the academy quickly. Whatever else can wait until tomorrow!”

Xia Xiaolan hadn’t invested much emotion in Zhou Yi.

She wasn’t very familiar with Zhou Wengang and Jiang Hong either, just worried about Grandmother Zhou.

Having seen Grandmother Zhou, she felt reassured.

Going to see the Yuan family, she felt more curious than pressured.

Zhou Yi’s drama hadn’t completely absorbed Xia Xiaolan’s attention; she still cared about Golden Sand Pool’s housing sales.

Early Tuesday morning, she called her uncle.

“Has everything sold out?”

Given the previous enthusiasm, with 47 units on the first day and 51 on the second, there were 140 residential units in total. After deducting one unit reserved for Liu Yong, one given to Mao Kangshan, one used as Qihang’s office, and the unit for Wu Daonan instead of 200,000 Hong Kong dollars in compensation, there were 38 units left. Xia Xiaolan thought they should sell well.

Liu Yong’s laughter almost burst through the phone, “Sold out? Not just sold out – we didn’t have enough to sell! Yesterday around 4 PM we signed the contract for the last unit. Do you know, right then someone was pestering the last buyer, willing to pay extra to buy it from them!”

The last unit was a 90㎡ layout, with an average floor and location, priced at 2,199 yuan/㎡, totaling 198,000 yuan, or 178,000 after a 10% discount.

“The person offered 190,000, an instant profit of 12,000 yuan, but the buyer still wouldn’t sell!”

Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t sell either.

The more people scrambled for the units, the more valuable buyers felt their purchase was, making them reluctant to sell.

She had considered that if someone maliciously spread Luo Yaozong’s story and triggered mass contract cancellations, she would have to “save the market” herself… find agents to buy Golden Sand Pool units at high prices, and those few purchases would show other owners the appreciation potential.

Now it seemed that step wouldn’t be necessary.

“By midnight last night, Qihang should have received the final payments from the 44 full-payment buyers from the first day…”

“I can’t calculate that. Manager Ying is here, let him tell you?”

On the other end, Ying Jinchuan took the phone: “Ms. Xia, on the first day we sold 47 units total, with 44 full-payment units. After discounts, the total was 8.007 million. As of yesterday, two 90-unit buyers couldn’t gather enough for the final payment and had to switch to mortgage loans. We received full payment for 42 units, totaling 7.647 million!”

There was a three-day funding period, which was also the window for cancellation.

For units sold on the 14th, if buyers hadn’t changed their minds by midnight yesterday, Golden Sand Pool wouldn’t accept any more cancellations.

And after tomorrow, none of Golden Sand Pool’s sold units could be returned. The Luo family? Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t even bother thinking about them!

“Good. Manager Ying, please handle repaying the bank’s first 5 million yuan loan.”